City Council to be Stupid Again

The City council is preparing to waste more taxpayer dollars on what everyone agrees is a losing proposition, all because the "progressives" want to screw the police:

• A City Council committee on Thursday delivered a symbolic but temporary message underscoring its commitment to police reform and accountability.

  Over strenuous objections from the Fraternal Order of Police and its Council allies, the Committee on Workforce Development voted 10-5 to reject an independent arbitrator’s ruling that would allow Chicago police officers accused of the most serious wrongdoing — and recommended for firings or suspensions over one year — to bypass the Police Board in favor of an arbitrator who might be more sympathetic and would hold proceedings behind closed doors.

Blowie is against Officers having arbitration Rights because his commie masters told him he was against it....even though the teachers have something like it to protect the sexual predators in their ranks. The head of the Police Board is against it because it cuts their power by eighty or ninety percent. Same with Anthony Driver Jr who's lucrative commission chairmanship would suffer. Commie tool and U of C "professor" Futterman who makes a living critiquing the police with pretty much zero actual knowledge would lose access to propaganda material. Anjanette Young is just out for revenge.

But some actual smart people opine that it's a losing fight:

• Next week’s full Council vote will be harder. It requires a three-fifths vote — 30 members — to defy Benn yet again. And even then, it would only send the matter back to Benn, who has made it clear he would reach the same conclusion.

  [...] Under questioning at Thursday’s hearing, Chicago’s veteran labor negotiator Jim Franczek said it would be a “steep hill to climb” for the city to win an FOP court challenge.

Franczek is no friend of the police, being in an adversarial relationship with any Chicago union over the course of his career....but he's not an idiot and is in fact a crafty negotiator. And even he says it's a losing battle.

And Alderwoman Silvana Tabares, one of the few intelligent voices on the council and pro-police advocate says the cops have been (and continue to be) persecuted in violation of State Law:

• Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd), one of the police union’s staunchest Council supporters, said the arbitrator’s ruling is “not a matter of granting a new avenue to police officers” but about “correcting a wrong based on the fact that Chicago has been using a disciplinary process for police officers for years in violation of state law.”

  “When the city of Chicago created the Police Board, it did so in violation of the Illinois Labor Relations Act,” she said.

  “Every police officer who has had his or her career impacted by a decision by the Chicago Police Board has been subjected to an illegal process set up by the city to impede their rights as a worker just because he or she is a police officer.”

Buy this lady a beer.

Every other worker in the city has a disciplinary process spelled out that allows an independent review of the facts...except the cops, who appear to have about six or seven "oversight" committees, commission, boards and tribunals, with no appeals process for a few of them, meaning you have to sue to get justice, which is ridiculous,

We've said it before, we'll say it again - cops are not above the law, but neither should they be underneath it. We aren't demanding anything that other workers don't already have.